If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

File Management

One of the things that RAW offers is file flexibility. You can make some dramatic changes in WB and lighting parameters that can save your shots.

The powerful aspect of JPEG is that you can download the images immediately and they are ready to present ASAP. It does require that the photographer know how to operate his camera with its specific controls (get it right the first time), so you actually take the initial shot and do not have to play with it, afterward.

By using BOTH, you have your "editable" files and your "rush" files at the same time. If someone needs your work ASAP ... they get the JPEG files straight to the web and you can beg off on the editing for a while. But, if both they and you can wait until you get home and edit/adjust your files, then RAW is the way.

Until you get serious ... you may just want to get a bigger media card and shoot BOTHJPEG & RAW for a while, before committing to a SD card full of "need to edit" files.

Just a thought.

As far as the lawn mower man ... you might want to use or increase your fill flash, to reduce that front shadow.

Last edited by DonSchap; 04-09-2011 at 10:40 AM.

Don Schap - BFA, Digital Photography A Photographer Is ForeverLook, I did not create the optical laws of the Universe ... I simply learned to deal with them.
Remember: It is usually the GLASS, not the camera (except for moving to Full Frame), that gives you the most improvement in your photography.flickr® & Sdi

You can not tell a lot from your photos. Raw tends to be for adjsuting things like you have the camera on auto white balance and you take a photo under tungsten light. The colour is all orange? so in RAW you change the white balance; also you are working on an uncompressed format so the files are 4x the size ? so it allows you to modify them without losing any detail.

When I first started using a dslr I took photos in both formats as I had the option but soon moved over to just RAW.

As Don says you can do that and you will be able to see what is happening in the camera. Memory cards are so cheap theses days you could carry a couple as they will fill up faster and juge for yourself the differences.

For the very first time in my life, I agree with Don. RAW + JPEG gives you the best of both worlds: You have your camera edited JPEG that you can immediately use, and you have your digital negative that gives you the full potential of what you've captured.

From my very first digital camera I have always shot RAW, actually, RAW + JPEG, there was never any thought of doing otherwise. The RAW file is my negative: It's the file I can go back to again and again, tweak and re-tweak, without penalty, because all of my changes are completely non destructive.

JPEG is my Walgreen's one hour photo print. Quick, easy, with the camera having most of the control. I don't usually do much if any editing to the JPEG, because I can see the loss in quality almost immediately.

Shooting RAW is really no more difficult that shooting JPEG. There is the step of converting to JPEG for display, but that's just a button push away, or with LR simply exporting the file as a JPEG. The only drawback is that a RAW file takes up more space. The advantage is that you have a lot of latitude to "fix" files that maybe aren't perfect. At some point a lot of JPEGs are unfixable, but in RAW format the extra latitude may allow a fix for that same file, for me I always want that ability.

As for just being for night or special lighting situations, uh, no. It's for any photograph you want to have the ability to make the best it can be. Don't you want that for all of your photographs? I know I do. The only disadvantage I can see with the RAW + JPEG is space, and space is relatively cheap.
__________________

Last edited by TenD; 04-09-2011 at 11:21 AM.

A good photograph is knowing where to stand.
Ansel Adams

Rule books are paper, they will not cushion a sudden meeting of stone and metal.
Ernest K. Gann-Fate is the Hunter.

PS
I highly recommend Adobe Lightroom, or Apple Aperture. They reduce RAW workflow to a non event. The both edit the RAW file, or actually, they keep a log of changes made to the RAW file that are shown in real time on your screen. You aren't actually making any changes until you export the file. The export saves the changes you've made in the file type you choose without changing anything on your original file. Your digital negative is preserved with the log of changes you've applied until you make more changes or discard all of the changes. There isn't even a thought you are working on a RAW file, it's just simple editing.

Last edited by TenD; 04-09-2011 at 11:24 AM.

A good photograph is knowing where to stand.
Ansel Adams

Rule books are paper, they will not cushion a sudden meeting of stone and metal.
Ernest K. Gann-Fate is the Hunter.